


The Other Hamilton

by JetGirl1832, tomatopudding



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Brothers, F/M, Family, Gen, caribbean
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-07 09:10:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17363162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JetGirl1832/pseuds/JetGirl1832, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomatopudding/pseuds/tomatopudding
Summary: What if Alex's many letters finally got a long awaited letters finally received a reply?An HFA AU





	1. My Dear Brother

It all started with a letter that appeared in their mailbox one day. Eliza didn’t really pay much attention to it at first, sticking it into one of her grocery bags that was hanging off the handle of the stroller. Getting a two seater stroller for Pip and Angie had been a really great idea, especially since this one also had a basket underneath the seats where the majority of the groceries for their little family could sit. 

It was still a while until Alex would be home from work, especially if he stayed late as he tended to. Eliza put the stack of mail on the counter and unbuckled Pip and Angie. Both of the kids were fast asleep, so she carried them each carefully and quickly to their shared bedroom, placing Angie into her crib and Pip into his bed. Her day continued much as usual as she forgot the mail sitting on the counter, too focused on the other parts of her routine.

As she started getting dinner ready her gaze flicked towards the envelope. Eliza raised her brow when she noticed the return address in the top left corner. Alex got very occasional letters from his brother in St. Croix, but from what he had said it had been quite a while since the last one, long enough that Alex thought maybe James had finally decided to let their correspondence fall by the wayside. Yet here one was; she’d make sure Alex read it when he got home.

Of course, life didn’t make it easy. Alex worked late, as he tended to do, and after dinner Angie was being particularly fussy so it took him nearly two hours to calm her down enough and get her to sleep even with Pip’s help. His hair was in disarray and the bags under his eyes distinct as he flopped down on the bed beside Eliza who’d thrown on a pair of sweats and favorite tee shirt.

 

She leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek. 

“I feel like I could sleep for a week,” Alex groaned. 

“You’d get bored,” Eliza told him, resting her head on Alex’s shoulder. 

Alex made a move to wrap his arms around her, “You’re probably right.”

Eliza hummed and snuggled closer.

“Oh,” she said before she could forget, “you got a letter from your brother.”

Alex immediately straightened up, “I did?”

Eliza sighed, “On the counter,” she told him, “and you better bring it in here, because you do need to sleep tonight.”

 

Alex obeyed, returning quickly with the letter. He hadn’t been patient, though, the envelope already unsealed and the folded letter in his hand. 

Eliza patted beside her on the bed, scooting next to Alex when he sat down.

 

“What does he say?” she asked. 

“He’s in a lot of debt,” Alex murmured as he read. 

“How much is a lot?” Eliza raised her brow.

 

“Somewhere in the realm of...five thousand.”

Eliza sucked in a sharp breath through her nose. 

“That’s a lot,” she said carefully. 

“I know,” Alex ran his hand through his hair.

“But you want to help him,” Eliza replied, “I know you.”

At that, Alex sighed and smiled guiltily, “Can we spare it?”

Despite Alex being very good with numbers, and much more used to living within a limited budget than Eliza was, she was generally the one who managed their join assets. Mostly because Alex was at work too much to have the time to also deal with balancing checkbooks and paying bills on time. 

 

Eliza bit at her lip, “I suppose if we put off apartment hunting for a little while more, and adjust our budget...I think we can make it work.”

 

Alex drew Eliza close to his side and kissed her temple. 

“What did to do to deserve you?”

 

Eliza lay her head on his shoulder once more, “How about you figure that out in your dreams and tell me in the morning.” She then gingerly plucked the letter from his grasp and placed it on her nightstand, “Now let’s get some sleep.”

 

—————

Dear James,

I can’t tell you how glad I was to get a letter from you. It’s been so long, I thought you might have forgotten about me or something. I know you will call me dramatic for thinking such things, but I can’t help it. It’s been nearly fifteen years since I last saw you. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not glad to hear that you’re having financial troubles, I’m just glad to hear from you. I talked it over with Eliza and we’d be glad to help you out. And I know that you probably didn’t write with the intention of asking me for money and I hope it doesn’t insult your pride or anything, but I want to help you. 

 

I’ve read that St. Croix as a whole has hit some hard times. I want to do anything I can to help you, I must ask have you ever thought about coming to the mainland? It’s not exactly easy sailing all the time here, no roads paved with gold or anything, but it’s become a home to me and it could be for you too. Especially in the city, I know people are always looking for a good handyman or carpenter. And the truth is, we’ve been talking about moving to a new apartment in the near future. I mean, I don’t know if you’re single or not, but either way apartment hunting in New York isn’t easy. Eliza and I have been in the same place since undergrad, and we now have two kids.

If you were to come to the City, we could rent a place for all of us. Not right away, we’ll need about another two years to make sure all of the funds are in order, find a place, and get it all set up. But if you were interested we could take that into account. I know you love the island, and New York winters are misery compared to January in St. Croix. It’s been years and I haven’t quite regulated to it yet, but people keep telling me that it will happen one of these days. I’m not sure if it will, but believe me when I say that there’s nothing like spending a cold winter day wrapped up in blankets with endless mugs of hot chocolate.

Besides, haven’t you always wanted experience a white Christmas? Seeing pictures of snow is nothing compared to actually being in snow, especially when it covers some place like Central Park in a perfect blanket. But I digress. In any case, I would love for you to come and live here, we both would. I hope that you will consider it and, in the meantime, I hope that this help in covering your debt will be amenable.

I’m not sure how close you are, or how often you hear from him, but how is dad? I’ll admit that I haven’t quite forgiven him for walking out on us, for disappearing just like that without any warning. But I don’t want to spend the rest of my life wondering and regretting not at least asking about him. The last I heard from anyone was that he was somewhere in the Grenadines. If you have any news of him, good or bad, I would love to hear it.

I hope to hear from you soon, provided this letter doesn’t get lost in the mail like my previous one.

Your dearest brother,

Alexander Hamilton

—————

Alex was trying to stop himself from fidgeting too much, but it wasn’t really working. James’s flight would be landing any minute now, the airport staff preparing the gate for its arrival. Alex adjusted his hold on Junior so it would be a bit more comfortable. He had brought the one-year-old with him to the airport to give Eliza a bit of break. Pip was in his kindergarten class this morning and Eliza had three-year-old Angie with her at home. 

 

Alex kept looking at his watch as the time drew nearer. His heart was beating fast, the last time he’d seen his brother he was about thirteen years old. He began to wonder if he’d even be able to recognize him. Junior seemed to sense his father’s unease, making babbling noises and patting his cheek. Alex chuckled lightly and pressed a kiss to Junior’s palm, causing the boy to giggle at the tickle of Alex’s beard.

There were people gathered there for the next flight out of the same gate. And finally through the large windows he could see the plane taxi in. 

“Ready to meet Uncle James?” Alex murmured, more to himself than to Junior. 

It was a few more minutes before the jetway opened, and people started deplaning. Alex shouldn’t have been worried about recognizing his brother; it was like looking into a slightly distorted mirror. 

“Santi!” Alex called out to his brother using the childhood nickname, “Santi over here!”

When he spotted Alex, James’s face lit up into a radiant grin. He turned around to speak briefly to a woman just behind him who was pushing a stroller. When she nodded, James wound his way through the crowd to get to Alex. 

Alex waited for James to get closer, “You made it in one piece.”

“So it would seem,” James chuckled, “I can’t believe I’m here, that you’re here.”

Alex understood the feeling. 

 

“Are you going to introduce us properly?” A voice came from behind James.

It was the woman he had spoken to earlier, the one with the stroller. She was smiling, albeit tiredly, and Alex realized that it must be James’s wife. 

“Alex, this is my wife Mary and daughter Courtney,” James introduced them.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Alex said, shifting Junior so that he was holding him in one arm so that he could shake Mary’s hand. 

“And who’s this little guy?” Mary cooed. 

“This is Alexander Jr,” Alex said, “Say hi, Junior.”

Junior waved briefly before burying his face in Alex’s neck. 

“He’s a bit shy,” Alex explained, “but don’t worry, Philip and Angie will make up for it and then some. Pip will talk your ear off if you give him the chance.”

James chuckled, “Sounds like someone else I know.”

“Oh, he definitely gets it from me,” agreed Alex. 

“What a surprise,” James snorted.

With that, they headed towards the baggage claim to pick up James and Mary’s belongings. Alex remembered his own first trip to the mainland, fitting all of his meager belongings in a single large suitcase. Even though he didn’t have much it hadn't been easy, and unlike James he didn’t know who’d be meeting him at the airport. Thankfully William Livingston and his family had been unbelievably kind to him in those days. And he would be there for his brother in that same way now. 

 

“We should head home,” Alex decided once they grabbed all their bags and loaded up on a cart to catch a taxi, “Betsey is excited to meet you.”

 

————-

There were so many people. James didn’t think that he’d ever seen so many people in his entire life. He’d gone from one island to another, but St. Croix was nothing compared to this. He looked at the piece of paper Eliza had given his with directions Alex’s office. It had seemed simple enough, only two trains and the exact stations he had to use.

After wading through the throng of people James found the stairs leading underground to the station. Sure he’d seen the subway in many a film, but it was different riding on one. It was as if people in the City had no concept of personal space, trying to find a place to squeeze their bodies no matter how small.

James trotted down the stairs, subway tokens in hand. Overhead there were signs pointing to different trains and tracks, uptown and downtown. He looked down at the paper again. Eliza hadn’t written anything about that, just the line and station. James swore to himself in Spanish, trying to recall if Alex had said anything about where he worked. He searched for a map of some kind, maybe he could figure out which direction to go, but there were so many people around. It must be some sort of rush hour. And every time it cleared out it was short lived as another train pulled in leading to another influx of people. James took as deep a breath as he could of the stuffy subway air. 

 

He looked at the paper again, and up at the signs. Shaking his he went towards the signs pointing towards uptown hoping it was the right direction. When he got to the platform, James was finally able to find a map on the tunnel wall when the platform emptied as a train arrived. Even after looking at the map he wasn’t quite sure where he needed to go. But it did seem this train would get him close to Wall Street. Thankfully, the first train wasn’t a hugely long trip and James soon discovered that he had been going in the right direction. Once getting off the train he looked at the sheet of paper again. He was halfway there, so far he was doing well.

—————

Usually, Alex would be completely single-minded during his work day, but today he was mildly distracted by the fact that James was coming to meet him for lunch. He was excited to show his brother his office and introduce him to George. And possibly Burr.

“Hamilton do you have those depositions?” Burr peered into his office.

Alex jerked from his thoughts, “What? Oh, um, I’m almost finished.”

Burr raised his brow but said nothing else as he went back to his own office. Alex couldn’t help but keep looking at the clock on his wall and when he wasn’t looking at the clock, he was glancing at his watch. James should be arriving at any moment, shouldn't he? The commute between the apartment and his office wasn't that long.  
He was just starting to get worried when the door to his office opened again. It was one of the other paralegals.

“You’ve got a visitor Hamilton,” she told him.

Alex jumped up from his seat knocking off the cup containing his pencils.

“Shoot,” he muttered, scrambling to pick up the pencils and hastily put them back in the cup.

He then straightened the papers before going out to greet who he could only assume was his brother. James was standing by the office secretary’s desk, watching as the various paralegals and office staff rushed about. They were a large law firm and usually fairly busy, so there was never a lack of movement in the office.

“Santi, glad you could meet me for lunch,” Alex grinned.

“Some place,” James said, impressed. 

“Yeah,” agreed Alex, “Come on, before we go eat I’d like you to meet my boss.”

As they went back to George’s office they walked past Burr’s own.

“Am I going to get those depositions...” Burr slowly looked up at James, “good god, there’s two of you?”

“Burr!” Alex exclaimed, “This is my older brother James. He just moved here from St. Croix. Santi, this is my college roommate, Aaron Burr.”

“Likewise,” Burr replied, accepting James’s hand to shake, “and welcome to New York.”

They hesitated for a moment, “So those depositions?” Burr asked.

“I’ll get them to you after lunch,” Alex promised. 

Burr let out a huff, “You’d better.”

Alex gave a mock salute, causing Burr to roll his eyes. Alex just grinned in response and continued on the way to George’s office. 

“This way,” he directed his brother.

George was on the phone when Alex knocked on the open door frame, but he beckoned his paralegal inside anyway with a quirk or his head. The Hamilton brothers stood their for a moment until George hung up the phone.

“Alexander,” George said, “if you’re here to ask me if you can work through lunch again..”

“No, sir, I’d actually like to take a long lunch today,” Alex replied, “You see, my brother just moved here and-“

“Ah yes, James,” George interrupted, standing and walking around the desk in order to shake James’s hand, “I’ve heard so much about you, Alex has been talking about this day for months.”

“Really?” James asked, surprised, while Alex gaped. 

“Not at work!” Alex insisted. 

George raised an eyebrow, “Do you think that none of the things you talk to Martha about ever get back to me?”

Alex flushed and tried to cover it with a laugh, “Right.”

"I think you sometimes forget we are married," George chuckled, Martha was a bit of a go to for whenever Alex or Eliza needed someone to talk to.

Alex didn’t really know how to respond to that and George most have seen the struggle in his eyes because he just clapped a hand on Alex’s shoulder. 

“Take you lunch, son,” he said, “and for goodness sake get those depositions to Burr when you get back before he quietly has an aneurism. He’s waiting on them to continue building our case.”

 

"Yes sir," Alex nodded, "we'll be back soon."

"Not too soon," George called after him as the two were leaving.

“You seemed pretty familiar with your boss,” James commented once they were out on the street. 

“He was head of my department at Columbia,” Alex explained as he began leading the way to a little diner nearby that he liked, “and my mentor pretty much through law school. His wife Martha kind of...adopted me. Before I had Eliza and her family to spend holidays with, I used to go to the Washingtons’ for that stuff.”

"I guess I didn't do a very good job of keeping in touch," James confessed.

“It’s not just on you,” Alex told him, “I could have tried harder to find you, once I stopped being mad at you.”

"I guess we both kind of sucked at the whole communication thing," James added, "I mean I hardly even saw you before you left St. Croix."

“We get that from dad, I think,” Alex said. 

James let out a small laugh, “I think that you’re right.” The two of them then took a seat at empty, red vinyl booth.

Alex slid one of the menus towards James, “I highly recommend getting a chocolate milkshake.”

“You always did love chocolate,” James said, “I remember Mamí would work so hard on the days leading up to your birthday just to have enough money to get the really good stuff.”

Alex smiled fondly at the memory, “There were few things I wanted more than chocolate and books.”

“I seem to recall piggyback rides being pretty far up on that list,” James chuckled.

“You enabled that one,” Alex scoffed.

James shrugged, “What can I say, you and Ned used to love playing knights and I was a much better horse than the broom.”

“That is true,” Alex laughed, “you were a fine steed.”

James snorted at that, “Also someone had to hang around to make sure you and Ned didn’t get into too much trouble.”

Alex smirked, “And how well did that work for you?”

“About a three out of ten,” James decided.

They spent the rest of their lunch reminiscing about their childhood in St Croix. It was certainly a more leisurely lunch than Alex had ever taken and the time seemed to pass more quickly. Soon the two of them just waited for their check.

“Thanks for lunch,” James smiled.

“Of course,” Alex said, “any time, seriously.”

“Maybe next time it’ll be my treat,” James smiled.

“Deal,” Alex replied with a nod.


	2. I, Peter Lavien

The letter arrived about three years after James moved his family to New York City. It was just as unexpected as the letter that had led to that move. What was odd was that it showed up at his office, unless it was related to a case Alex never got mail at his office. At first he actually thought that it might be related to a case, considering that it came from another law office, albeit one that he had never heard of, but after reading only the first few lines, Alex realized that that wasn’t the case. He folded it back up, he didn't have time to deal with this now, the letter would still be there when he got home.

 

Alex did actually manage to get home at a reasonable hour. He’d been getting better at it since Pip was born and now that there were four small children running about, he made even more of an effort not to work too late so as to give Eliza a bit of a break. When he got home, he found that his niece Courtney was also there, she and Angie keeping the younger kids enthralled with a piano four-hands recital. Theo Burr was present as well, little Jamie sitting quietly in her lap. 

 

“Hi Mr. H!” Theo grinned.

“Listening!” Jamie said insistently, hushing Theo and patting her arm. 

Alex let out a small snort of amusement at his youngest son and made his way to the kitchen. Eliza was sitting at the kitchen table with Theodosia, the two of them drinking tea and chatting. 

“Hello, ladies,” Alex greeted, swooping down to kiss Eliza’s cheek. 

“I hope you didn’t torture my husband too badly today,” Theodosia teased. 

“No worse than usual,” joked Alex, “I’m going to finish up some work in my office, when James comes to pick up Courtney can you send him my way? We have something we need to talk about.”

The letter was sitting in the breast pocket of his suit jacket, feeling oddly heavy with the weight of what was written inside. 

“They’re staying for dinner,” Eliza said, “but I’ll have him come and see you.”

 

Alex simply nodded before ducking back in the small room he’d made into his office. It was difficult for him to refocus, thinking about what was written in the letter instead of what he should have been doing. He had just given in and pulled the paper out of its envelope when James entered.

“What’s up?” James asked leaning against a nearby bookshelf, “And Eliza warned me to keep it brief, dinner is almost ready.”

“Alright, I’ll do my best,” Alex said, “you might want to sit down, though.”

James raised his eyebrows, “Sitting down. Sounds serious.”

 

“I think it is,” Alex removed the letter from the envelope.

 

“Did Mamí ever tell you about our half brother?” Alex asked. 

The utter shock and confusion on James face answered Alex’s question.

 

“I got this letter today from a law firm in South Carolina,” Alex said, offering the letter out to James, “so apparently Mamí was married once before dad. Or maybe she wasn’t married, I’m not really clear on all the details, but they had a son named Peter, our half brother.”

“So he’s reaching out to us?” James asked, giving the letter a cursory glance but not really reading anything.

“He died,” Alex swallowed, “and left us both something in his will, according to the executor of his estate.”

James blinked, “Really? But...why? How did he even find out about us?”

“I’m not sure,” Alex admitted, “it doesn’t say in this letter.”

The two brothers sat in silence for a moment, each mulling over the news in their own way.

“So, what do we do now?” James asked finally, “Do we have to go to South Carolina?”

Alex shook his head, “No need. As far as I can tell, we should get another letter detailing exactly what we’re getting and how to collect it.”

There was a call for dinner from Eliza and the scramble of small feet in the apartment.

“We should...” Alex started, gesturing towards the door. 

“Right,” agreed James. 

Neither of them made a move to stand, however, still struck by the oddness of the newfound situation. It wasn’t long before Eliza appeared in the doorway.

“Are you two coming?” she asked.

Alex looked up and gave her a small smile, “We’ll be there in a moment.”

 

It was a few weeks later when they received another letter from North Carolina. Once again it was sent to Alex's office so he asked James to meet him there so they could go over it's contents.

James arrived at exactly the time they had scheduled, which was good because the rest of Alex’s time that day was pretty full. 

"I guess this is the moment of truth," James sighed taking a seat.

“Something like that,” agreed Alex with a small huff of laughter. 

 

He fiddled with the envelope for a minute before tearing the top and removing the contents.

 

“It appears to be a copy of Peter Levien’s will,” Alex said, flipping through the enclosed pages, “oh, okay the executor of his estate has highlighted the part that pertains to us.”

 

Alex scanned down the document and read, "I give and bequeath to Alexander Hamilton and his brother Robert Hamilton each $16,500 dollars..."

"Robert Hamilton?" James furrowed his brow.

"I guess he got at least one of our names right," James rolled his eyes.

“Well,” Alex said, “in any case, he left each of us sixteen and a half thousand dollars. So that’s something, I guess?”

“I guess,” James shrugged. 

Alex was shuffling the pages when a page slipped out of place, it wasn't typed like everything else but handwritten from a Mr. John Kearn.

"That's the executor of the will," Alex was puzzled as to what else there could possibly be since the will seemed very cut and dry.

“What is it?” James asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. 

“It seems like an explanation of some kind,” replied Alex, “Apparently he and Peter were friends, or at least colleagues. Dear James and Alexander Hamilton,” Alex muttered to himself as he scanned down the page.

“Anything pertinent?” James asked. 

Alex didn’t answer as he continued to read. Then he let out a small “oh” on a huff of breath. 

“What?”

“So I guess Mamí was married to Peter’s dad Johanne for a couple years. When they divorced, Johanne managed to get full custody because he could afford much better lawyers. Peter was too young, he didn’t remember Mamí at all, he just had his father’s horrible stories, most of which were lies about why they divorced and such.”

James snorted, “Sounds like a great father.”

“No kidding,” agreed Alex, and then he continued, “Anyway, when Mamí died and dad was nowhere to be found, Johanne stuck his nose in again and...Jesus he stole all of her money,” Alex fumed, “he convinced a court that he should get all of her assets instead of us. Apparently he was really proud of this fact.”

Alex glanced at James and noticed his lips were pressed into a fine line. Even when they were young, his brother disliked anyone talking bad about their mother.

“And so after all this time he felt sorry for us?” James asked.

 

“He felt guilty,” corrected Alex, “for what his father did.”

 

James snorted in response, "Alright."

“Look, it doesn’t thrill me either,” Alex told his brother, “but that’s what the facts are. We can either accept the money and move on, donate it or something if we don’t want to keep it, or refuse it and let this Mr. Kearn decide what to do with it. I think. This type of law isn’t my specialty, we learned about it once back when I first started law school.”

James sighed running his hand through his hair, “I guess...it’s just a lot to take in.”

 

“That’s certainly an understatement,” Alex chuckled. They were silent for a moment, “I could tell Eliza not to hold dinner for me and we can get some drinks and talk this over more.”

 

“I think that’s a good idea,” agreed James.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please vote in our current HFA Poll before January 22 11:59 PM MST! 
> 
> Follow the link [here](https://www.poll-maker.com/poll2211247x62984aC4-63)!


End file.
